Preston 1 Gillingham 1

GILLINGHAM manager Stan Ternent has warned his team not to throw away their chance of survival by playing as badly as they did at Preston.

Ternent admitted his team were fortunate when Paul Smith’s late equaliser earned them a 1-1 draw at Deepdale on Saturday.

But the Gills boss knows they must improve on Saturday’s showing if they are to stay up, starting with their trip to QPR on Tuesday.

He said: "I’m pleased with the point but I’m not pleased with the performance. That was as bad as we have played since the Leicester game but we got a break at the end.

"Preston were by miles the better team. The standard of performance was not what we have been used to. We were way off the pace and looked off colour.

"Having said that it’s an excellent point. There won’t be too many teams who come to Deepdale and come away with something.

"The players have done fantastically well to give themselves a chance and it would be a shame if they didn’t perform in the last six games. But I’m confident they will perform like I know they can for the remaining matches."

Coventry’s win against Brighton on Saturday sent Gillingham back into the bottom three again – just one game after they hauled themselves out for the first time in five months.

But Ternent is still confident his team, who have now lost just once in nine matches, will bounce back in Tuesday night’s match at Queens Park Rangers.

He said: "The players will be okay for QPR. It’s something of a derby match for us. We worked so hard to get out of the bottom three and we don’t want to be back down there again.

"Every match we play now is of vital importance. There is 18 points still up for grabs and we look forward to QPR."